This blog examines past, current, and best practices, techniques, and lessons learned of various business intelligence implementations.

Government

September 28, 2008

The role of the government has been evolving over the last
several years.Gone are the days when
agencies simply served as administrative bodies that did little more than set
and enforce regulations, and collect, process, and store information.Citizens now expect better, more
convenient services and programs from their federal, state, and local
entities.That’s why many government
organizations are implementing business intelligence tools, to help them better
understand and address the needs of the communities they serve, while operating
more productively and cost-efficiently.

How can business intelligence solutions be applied to help
government agencies improve operations?The ways in which BI can be utilized in government are virtually unlimited,
but some of the most successful ways include:

Inter- and Intra-Agency Information Sharing

In today’s age of heightened national security risks,
individual agencies at the federal, state, and local level can no longer operate
in a vacuum.They must be able to instantaneously
share vital, timely information from a variety of back-end data systems – not
only among their own employees, but with their counterparts at other agencies.Business intelligence makes this
possible, allowing data from the disparate and fragmented sources that exist
within single agencies, as well as across multiple government entities, to be
easily accessed, consolidated, and analyzed in real time.

“Customer” Intelligence

While many businesses need to know more about their
customers in order to more effectively market and sell to them, government
agencies are taking the same approach with the citizens they serve.This is becoming increasingly
critical, according to leading industry analyst firm DataMonitor in their
recent “Business Trends: Understanding Your Government Customer” report, as
constituents continue to demand a higher level of accountability and
transparency from their government.DataMonitor feels that this continued shift is the driving force behind
the increased adoption of such technologies as CRM and business intelligence
tools by government agencies at all levels.

E-Government

For the past several years, there has been a major focus on
initiatives for e-government, or citizen self-service.These projects are making the services
of a variety of agencies – including the DMV and Social Security – conveniently
available to residents via the Web.However, in order for these programs to work, they must give
constituents fast and simple access to the data they need.This requires the support of a
comprehensive business intelligence infrastructure.

Financial and Budget Management

No organization operates on a tighter budget than a
government agency.But,
effectively managing the allocation and utilization of funds requires in-depth
insight into spending patterns, as well as the ability to forecast future costs
and expenses.BI systems provide
those capabilities, empowering government entities to better control and
administer their budgets.

As more and more government agencies continue to adopt innovative
business intelligence solutions, the techniques they use are likely to become
more sophisticated, and they ways in which they use it to support their
day-to-day activities is likely to grow.This will help foster a collaborative environment among all agencies at
all levels, where they operate together in the most efficient, cost-effective,
and citizen-centric fashion possible.